In George Orwell’s book, 1984, about a “future” dystopia, the main antagonist is Big Brother/The Thought Police/The Government. We already have The Thought Police, considering rampant PC, or political correctness. Anyway, BB is a bit paranoid, too …

Please turn off all cell phones. Cameras are strictly prohibited in the courtroom as photography endangers the lives of court employees!

The other day I went down to the main courthouse in Charlotte. My friend, Tim, had asked me to come be a witness for his marriage. He also asked that I take some pictures of the ceremony. The first thing that I found out is that cameras are not allowed inside of the building, save for cellphone cameras. Secondly, near the courtroom where the ceremonies were being done there were several notices posted that prohibited photography of any type, still or video! To add to that, we received a short speech about turning our phones off completely before entering the courtroom because photography endangers the lives of the employees of the court.

Wow! Photography endangers lives? I’ve never killed or injured anyone with my camera. Never! In fact, I think that to do that, I’d have to throw it at them and that’s not gonna happen. Too expensive. There are less expensive things to throw! Or, that must be a hell of an allergy and how does that work anyway? I thought it all quite ridiculous and believe that I actually rolled my eyes when she gave her speech, but I did comply and turn off my phone … mainly because they said that if we took photos, the phone would be confiscated.

Big Brother has been watching too many cop shows where the camera is the tool to make all manner of mischief happen.

Anyway, Tim got married and I have no photographic proof because I didn’t want to endanger anyone’s life, but more so because I didn’t want my phone confiscated. 🙂

While working in Crystal City, I was approached by security on the street and told I needed permission to take any street images. In getting permission I was told I could not take photos of the buildings. 🙁 I have also approached by security outside of banks. I must look suspicious!Monte Stevens recently posted..New Fountain Pen

Permission to take pictures in the street and not of buildings? WTH? That violates fair use laws. Here, in front of Bank of America, they have security guards outside and they don’t like people taking photos of the exterior nor the interior of the buildings. Rampant paranoia!